We have really tried to wait until six months, but he's hungry. I don't mean 'Mommy's tired/sick of sitting here' hungry - he's always been a big eater so I'm used to it. He's been a little finicky lately, he takes only a few short naps after some very long feedings and isn't sleeping well at night. He eats just fine for about 20 minutes and then starts growling (which is adorable, we have videos, but I think it means he isn't getting enough) and freaks out while we're switching sides. He was also on the lower end of the weight scale at his four month check up, she wasn't particularly worried because he's developing and growing, but it definitely needs to improve. He's been reaching for food for a few weeks now. We tried reintroducing formula, which we stopped around three months, and he was just not having it.

I think he needs food. We talked about it a lot yesterday decided to do something similar to what taz suggested - introduce purees, but slowly, and not shy away from letting him explore food, and of course continue breastfeeding. Thank you all for your responses and help!

Pistachio - six months is just the guideline. I was hell bent on dealing solids as long as possible....then my daughter reached over and stole a banana out of my hand and fed it to her self, at four months three weeks...she could sit up, had teeth and reached all the other milestones. She was just an early physical developer and walked at nine months. I went with it on the presumption that if she could feed it to herself, it was okay. I wouldn't have spoon fed her at that age but go with your instinct, you're the mama!

I don't think I'd do cereal, but baby food should be okay. Definitely try making your own, veggies and fruits are lot more nutritious than grains. I know babies who start eating cereal and they end up getting overweight.

We did some baby led weaning with my son but not all the time since he went to daycare and I didn't trust them not to walk off while he was eating. I pretty much did exclusively baby led weaning with my daughter although every once in a while I'd spoon feed her things like yogurt when I just wasn't up to the mess that self feeding would create. I really like baby led weaning but don't think you have to be a purist about it. We also did new foods more similar to a traditional schedule where a new food was introduced and then we waited a few days before the next one so we didn't just give them what we were eating. We did this because we have a lot of food allergies in my husband's family. If you're skeptical about baby cereal try giving a banana or avocado to start out. My daughter practically lived on avocados when we were just starting out with solids.